Gold Stars
by ExtremeSaucicity
Summary: The aftermath of Soups and Stars, in which Austin helps de-star Ally.


A/N: This is for Miss-Rainy-Skies! Because she's awesome and she mentioned how much she loved Ally being covered in gold stars so I drummed up this little thing for her.

Oh god. I could not figure out how to end this. So sorry for the lame ending, Rainy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the show, Austin and Ally. It's a painful fact that I live with every single day of my life.

–

"Ally! Stay still," Austin muttered as he pulled another gold star sticker off her cheek.

"Ouch!" Ally whined as she scrunched up her nose in displeasure. "It feels pinchy!" A hand flew up to her cheek to rub the spot where the sticker had pulled at her hairs.

Austin rolled his eyes. "Hey, you're the one who stuck those gold stars all over your face," he snorted.

She sighed and continued swinging her legs back and forth from her seat on the counter of Sonic Boom. And then she brightened up at him. "But guess how many I got today!"

He gave her a look. "There's no _way _you counted all those stars. Or kept track of them. There must be, like, a million on you right now. _At least,_" he smirked with a raised eyebrow.

She giggled at his teasing but stopped when he peeled another one off her arm. "Hey!" she pouted, cradling her arm. "You ruined the Big Dipper constellation on my arm!"

Austin shook his head but couldn't stop the grin that made its way onto his face. "You're ridiculous," he snickered fondly as he added it to the pile accumulating on the counter next to them.

"You're right, though," she said sheepishly. She realized the easy joke and quickly tacked on, "Not the part about me being ridiculous."

He gave her an inquisitive look and grabbed her hand, starting to pull off all the stars on her wrist as he held it gently. "Right about what, then?" he murmured, trying to ignore how small and soft her hand felt so he could focus on picking at all the little stars.

She watched as he yanked away another one and gently rubbed his thumb over the pink mark left behind. "I lost count after 547 stars," she answered, looking even more sheepish.

Austin's finger strayed over a gold star and he looked up at her with an incredulous grin. "You are_ insane_."

"I know." She smiled so wide, it made her nose crinkle in the cutest fashion and he shook his head again.

There was still a star near the corner of her forehead and one more on her other cheek, but he hadn't the heart to pull those off just yet. "God, you're adorable," he laughed as he pulled another one from her elbow and threw it into the pile.

She blushed at the compliment, mildly annoyed that she still wasn't quite used to how easily he gave them to her. "Thanks," she said softly.

He shot her another grin before gently taking her arm and turning it over, examining the limb for any stars that he might have missed. "Okay, other arm."

Ally rolled her eyes but obediently stuck out her other star-covered limb anyway. "You know, you don't have to do this," she said lightly as his calloused fingers circled around her wrist delicately.

Austin blinked and his other hand paused on its way to picking at a star on her upper arm. "Um. Do you want me to stop?" he asked as he eyed her.

She hesitated. "Well, no..." she admitted, blushing as he raised an eyebrow at her response. "It's just... um, I feel kinda bad if you're just standing there, pulling off the stickers _for_ me..."

He reached for her neck and smirked when her eyes widened and her breathing stilled. "Oh, trust me. I don't mind," he chuckled as his fingers grazed the skin of her neck briefly before he ripped off another star.

"Ow!" she hissed, hand flying up to rub the spot on her neck. She glared at him. "You just like torturing me, don't you?" she accused through narrowed eyes.

He reached up and pulled another one, this time from her hair. After throwing it into the pile, he ran his fingers through her soft waves, smoothing down the flyaways. Austin gave her a sly smile. "Yeah, something like that," he smirked.

Ally rolled her eyes and looked down at her uniform. She plucked one from her skirt and stuck it on Austin's upper cheek with her thumb, using just a _smidgen_ more force than necessary. "Jerk," she sing-songed.

"Whoa, hey!" he exclaimed, turning his head to the side. He turned his head back and fixed her with a flat stare. "Well? How do I look?" he asked tonelessly.

"Hm... I don't think that one is enough," she said thoughtfully. She tilted her head to the side, smiling mischievously.

His eyes widened as he caught on to her little plan. "Wait, don't—!"

And then she proceeded to stick random stars all over his face.

"_Ally!_" he laughed at the sudden sticker barrage, grabbing at her hands. "Stop. Hey! Stop it!"

She started giggling like mad at his futile attempts to stop the onslaught of stars. "I'm going to make you look like the night sky!"

After a few more stickers, Ally finally quieted her giggling and Austin held her hands still and steady in his.

"Done? Are you done here?" he asked mock-exasperatedly, raising both eyebrows at her.

Ally nodded with a toothy smile. "Yep!" she chirped delightedly. She leaned back and admired her handi-work as he rolled his eyes.

There were three on his right cheek, two on his left, one on his jaw, and she managed to land two in his bangs.

She freed one of her hands from his grasp and ruffled his bangs fondly, watching as the two stars fluttered into her lap. "This is a good look for you," she teased.

"I dunno about that," he murmured as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. He tapped an index finger on the star still gracing her cheek and smiled at her. "I'm pretty sure you wear them better."

She blinked at him, bringing her fingertips up to ghost across the same spot on her cheek. "You missed this one," she frowned, starting to pick at it.

Austin quickly wrapped his fingers around her slim wrist, softly telling her, "I like that one. Leave it."

She looked at him with wide, startled eyes and awkwardly placed her hand back in her lap. "O-okay," she whispered with pink cheeks, "I'll leave it alone."

He gave her a sly smirk and focused on the few stars that were still left in her hair.

"Here," Ally murmured softly as she reached for the ones on Austin's face. "Do you want me to get those?"

Austin shrugged and his eyes flickered over to meet hers before moving back to her hair. "If you want."

"Okay." She peeled each star off carefully, meticulously. Whenever Austin winced or flinched mildly, she apologized quietly and rubbed the area gently with her fingers.

She placed her hands back in her lap when she finished and Austin leaned back a moment later. "Well, I got the ones out of your hair so give me your arm again." He peeled one off her upper arm and looked her in the eye. "I am not, however, going to help you pull them off your uniform. You're on your own there," he deadpanned.

Ally shot him yet another sheepish look. "Alright, alright! That's my fault, anyway. I guess I got a bit... overzealous."

Austin scoffed and looked at her in disbelief. "A _bit_?"

She deflated embarrassingly and rolled her eyes. "Fine. So I went a _little _overboard..." she mumbled under her breath.

"A lot, you went a _lot_ overboard," he pointed out dryly.

She puffed out her cheeks childishly. "But they're so pretty!" she pouted. She stuck out her bottom lip even further when he added another one to the pile.

He couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Well, next time, just stick them on your songbook or something, okay? Leave your clothes and _face _alone," he said, with extra emphasis and a poke to her cheek on 'face'.

She giggled and pushed his finger away from her cheek. "Don't worry. I think I finally got this 'need a gold star' thing out of my system."

Austin's shoulders sagged in relief. "Oh, thank god. I was afraid I'd be pulling gold stars off you for _days_." But he quickly shot her a grin to let her know he was joking, for the most part.

Ally rolled her eyes half-heartedly at him. She watched as he pulled a star from the crook of her elbow and held out her arm, examining it like he had done previously to her other one. Satisfied that he hadn't missed any, he gently dropped her arm into her own lap and grinned at her. "Finished!"

"You got them all?" she asked.

He nodded. "You've been properly de-starred," he replied, choosing to ignore the two stars he left behind on her forehead and on her cheek, underneath the corner of her eye.

"Awesome!" She hopped down from the counter and stood on her tippy toes with her hands on his chest to steady herself, so she could give him a quick peck on the cheek. "Thanks, Austin!" she said, giving him a brillant smile.

Austin's eyes widened and his fingers flew up to his cheek. "Um, thanks?" he squeaked, sure that he was turning pink.

Ally laughed and ran past Austin, bounding up the steps to the practice room. She reached the top and spun around, resting her arms on the railing. "Austin? You coming?" she asked impatiently.

"Wha—? Huh?" Austin stuttered, looking around the room in a daze before settling his eyes on Ally at the top of the stairs.

She grinned at his reaction and tilted her head to the side. "The song?" she asked pointedly, arching a perfect brow. "We have a song to write," she reminded him, biting back a grin.

That snapped him out of his stupor and he shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Oh, right!" And then he ran to the stairs and quickly jogged up the steps, taking two at a time.

Ally smiled and turned to face him when he reached the top. "Ready?"

He nodded. "Oh, and by the way, you still have two more on your face," he said casually.

She stopped in her tracks and frowned, reaching up to feel for the two stars. "You're so weird, why didn't you just peel them off?"

Austin laughed. "This coming from the girl who put them there in the first place?"

"... Hm. Fair point."

He reached up and cupped the nape of her neck, rubbing his thumb over his favorite star. "Besides," he murmured softly, "those stars aren't _so_ bad." His looked at her through half-lidded eyes. "It's why I left them."

She swallowed nervously and slowly lowered her hands. "Oh. Okay," she tried to say, but it mostly came out as a surprised squeak. She looked up at him with wide and unblinking doe eyes. And in the end, he blamed what happened next on those dark eyes with their heavy lashes.

Austin leaned down and kissed her gently, entangling his other hand in her wavy locks.

He pulled away after a moment and grinned down at her. "Sorry. I've been wanting to do that for a while now," he said huskily, not sounding even a bit apologetic.

Her eyelids fluttered open and she drew in a shaky breath. "You know what? I think I can find it somewhere in my heart to forgive you."

Austin laughed and moved in to kiss her again.


End file.
